Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Google and Libraries

Found a nice article in the New York Review of books about Google and libraries. The future of libraries, like most institutions and businesses, is an unknown. I guess the future has always been an unknown but 25 years ago people weren't seriously discussing the possibility of a world without physical libraries. It's both frightening and exciting to be living in the future.

As a librarian I feel it is my duty to say something in regards to the death of the great American writer, John Updike. It was two years ago that I read my first Updike book. I read the first book that featured his famous character, Rabbit. The novel is called Rabbit Run. I found his writing to be good almost beyond compare. It is so good that more than once I stopped reading and took a second to appreciate the genius of the writing. Like Steinbeck, not only is his skill at a level few of us ever approach, it is also accessible. Great writing doesn't have to be difficult, just great.

What does one do if he doesn't feel like writing a long entry in his blog but he would like to put some content up? Usually I link to a news story that pisses me off or embed a Daily Show or Colbert Report clip. Today I'll try something different and utilize my massive Flickr archive. How about my long hair and beard from January 2005? I think it should be obvious why that is the last time I tried to grow a beard.

Monday, January 26, 2009

I Love Goblin Cock

OK, I've only heard about four songs so far (one of them is a cover of the Porpoise Song by the Monkees!) but I've heard enough to say I love Goblin Cock. Watch the video below and I believe you may realize that you love Goblin Cock also. Goblin Cock!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bloggies.

Looking for new blogs to look at? Every year we get the Bloggies. It's like the Oscars for blogs. I usually don't vote because I haven't heard of half the blogs they list but it is a good place to find new blogs.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

More Fun with Time Lapse

Tonight I filmed the miniature dachshund, Isaac, while he lounged on the couch while we watched a little television. We have been watching the BBC mini series called State of Play and it's incredible. British television drama is so much better than what is on TV that is not HBO or Showtime that it's embarrassing.

A few things about the video

1) You may notice that Isaac is looking to the left a lot. He's looking at us. He loves people and he stares.

2) He leaves the couch for a bit. That is when Melanie is eating and he is coming over for a snack.

3) For a few seconds you see his butt. He is coming back for more food.

4) The camera took a shot every 15 seconds and the frame rate is 4 per second.

Because I am a masochist I take a look at far right blogs just to see what the truly insane are working themselves up over and it looks like that, for now, any event that President Barack Obama doesn't attend will be looked upon as a snubbing by the president. The fake outrage will be especially virulent if there is any way they can attach a "snubbing" by Obama to him "disrespecting" the troops.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Who is really our president?

Stephen Colbert was especially funny last night when he addressed those jackasses at Fox "News" and their "concern" that Obama may not actually be president because Chief Justice Roberts pooched the oath. I guess we can put to rest any doubts that Fox was going to change its tune with a new administration. Hilarious video below.

Today is a snow day in Charlotte. The library is closed which means the schools are closed. I am not one of those transplanted northerners that loudly announces that southern folks are candy asses because two inches of snow shuts the city down for a day or two. Why? Because I appreciate free days off. They are gifts from god and show us that he loves us. Today it also means that he expects me to sit on my butt and watch Obama's inauguration. Now I have to find out what time that is taking place.

I took a few pictures outside the house just now. The roads are a little icy but not too bad. Definitely a good idea to shut down the library. It's best not to take any chances.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Ebert on Elevation

Roger Ebert is such a good writer. He can humanize and bring humor to the results of an experiment on human emotions. I quote below: "You could say elevation is Oprah's opiate of the masses, so it's fitting that she early on gave Obama her imprimatur. And that for his victory speech [she was] was up front in Grant Park, elevation's moist embodiment, feeling so at one with humankind that she used a stranger as a handkerchief."

neurologically intact

That is the diagnoses of Ravens' running back Willis McGahee after a vicious hit in the Ravens/Steelers game last night. That game was full of some really tough hits. Two tough ass defenses were pulling no punches. If you missed the brutality of the McGahee hit you can view it below. During the second replay of the hit you can hear the stadium's reaction to the replay being played on the big screens.

While watching some television over the weekend I flipped over to CNN a couple of times and they have been all Obama all the time. It's pretty over the top and bordering on a love fest. Even as an Obama supporter and voter some of what I saw was cringe inducing. The only good thing that will come of all that nonsense is that it probably brought on much rage on the far right. Thousands of right wing blogs now have material for the next couple of days. The righteous indignation over the main stream media is going to be thick and furious.

I've seen the first three Star Wars movies several times and have read the Foundation series by Asimov at least twice but I never made the connection. By the way, if you enjoy science fiction even a little bit you should read this series.

I love year end lists and my favorite of them all is the list of the 50 Most loathsome people in America by the delightfully angry Buffalo Beast publication. I laughed out loud twice before I finished #49. Be aware that the language on this list is much like the language here used to be until I realized more than two people were reading this blog.

Not much you can say about last night's Panthers game other than Jake Delhomme must be made to fight for his job during the upcoming training camp this summer. Even the Detroit Lions would agree that five interceptions is inexcusable. I have not been a huge fan of Jake from the beginning. I was actually one of those people that thought we should have given Chris Weinke the job. I think Jake just doesn't have what it takes to be a premier QB in this league. He telegraphs passes (which leads to interceptions and balls batted down at the line), he tends to spazz out when he starts out bad and then he gets worse, and he doesn't lead his receivers when he throws to them (several times this year the team gained fairly short yardage on a pass that should have been a much bigger play because Jake threw the ball behind the receiver). This has been going on for years and I'm not calling for his head and I'm not a "Jake Hater" (which is what you can get called in this town for calling for Jake's benching) but it is really time to seriously consider his replacement or, like I said, announce that the position is open and force him to compete for the it.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Hear my faves

I decided to see how many of my fave albums of the last year I could find and post here. And by find and post I mean legally, of course. I found most of the songs on Imeem. I hope this doesn't slow down too many computers with all the loading that is going to take place.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Still Secure

I was looking at Paul Krugman's blog today and he mentioned Bush's desire to privatize social security. I had almost forgotten about that. My 401K has lost over 30% of its value in the last year. I wonder what would have happened to our social security funds if Bush had been able to push through his privatization nonsense? Pretty frightening.

Allow me to clarify

There has just been a pretty long and kinda spazzy response to this post by Kevin, the old buddy that lives in bigfoot country. From what he is saying he seems to think I think the government should be the only safety net we have. To that I say, I have a 401K so obviously I don't think social security is going to be there for me as the only source of retirement income. What I am saying is that I think it's nice we have a social security system that does not invest in the private sector. That is why we have private 401Ks. If I make to the age where I can retire I will have to rely on my 401K (yikes), social security (double yikes) and the North Carolina state employees retirement fund (seems fairly stable). The experts say we should diversify and putting social security funds into stocks when I already have a 401k that invests in mutual funds is not diversification. I believe it's putting all of your eggs in one basket and even a snot nosed five year old knows that's not a good idea.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Fave Albums of the Year

Like my books selection these are in no particular order. These are just the albums I played the most during 2007.

Dexateens - Lost and Found - These guys opened for the Drive by Truckers when we saw them in Greenville, SC. If the Drive by Truckers are a punkish/modern Lynryd Skynryd then the Dexateens are a southern style Replacements.

Drive by Truckers - Brighter than Creations Dark - Some have called this DBT's White Album and it's not a bad comparison. It's all over the map stylistically (which isn't unusual for a DBT album) and it's long. It has many moods and rewards repeated listenings from start to finish.

Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch - Tom Petty's old band reformed with original members. This was a heavy favorite for hanging on the back porch this summer.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand - This came out in 2007 but this was, by far, the most played album of the last year. I saw a BBC interview with Plant where he remarks on how this was the first album he had made with American musicians and how he was impressed by all their vintage equipment. Robert Plant made an Americana album and this may be what he has been aiming for all these years.

Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer - An oldtimey album in the best sense. The best voice from the Band has matured nicely. The musicianship is topnotch and the harmonies between Helm and his daughter are magnificent. Another porch favorite from this summer.

Dirtbombs - We Have your Surrounded - An awe inspiring monster of a rock album. It has the crunch of Led Zeppelin, the edge of the Stooges and chorus melodies worthy of the Decemberists. The Dirtbombs are a force of nature live and this album kicks ass. Also it has a cover of "Sherlock Holmes" by Sparks.

Was (Not Was) - Boo - They're back! One of my favorite bands. It's funky and weird and has a spoken word freak out by David Was. It's perfect.

Paul Kelly - A to Z - He's from Australia and he writes awesome songs. He does this thing where he plays a series of concerts that feature songs from his catalog in alphabetical order. This year he has been releasing songs from these concerts every month in, of course, alphabetical order. He is now up to the letter 'M.' It's been a great project and I love selecting this album on my Ipod and shuffling.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Is it physics or chemistry?

Just a short while ago our rocket scientist roommate, Brigham, cooked some chicken wings on the grill. He put down a layer of tin foil and added oil to the chicken wings. Predictably a big fire started in the grill. Results below.